The average pension in Croatia is €553, rising to €623 if you exclude the lowest pensions and include the highest. However, 26% of pensioners live on the minimum pension of just €395. On the other hand, war veterans receive over €1,200, while parliamentary pensions are over €2,000.

The average pension for all 1,227,747 recipients was €553 in December.

Excluding payments to 188,880 recipients who receive pensions totalling an average of €170 under international agreements, the average pension rises to €623. However, this average includes not only employee pensions, but also pensions that are granted in full or in part on the basis of special regulations.

Excluding these special pensions, the average pension is €507, according to the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute. There are significant regional differences, with the lowest pensions being paid in Vukovar and the highest in Zagreb, Rijeka and Dubrovnik, reports the news site Mirovina.hr.

26% of citizens receive the minimum pension

The ratio between pensionand average salary has dropped from 47.1% last month to 46.5%, which is due to a slight increase in the average salary, which was €1,340 in October. Nevertheless, the pension share of salaries is higher than in recent years due to pension growth. From 2013 to 2015, the pension share of salaries was over 47%, which is higher than today.

In Croatia, there are 271,416 minimum pensions of only €395, which is less than 30% of the average salary. This means that more than 26% of citizens have to live on less than €400 per month. The number of minimum pensions is increasing because workers’ salaries often lag behind the average and these pensions are calculated solely on the basis of years of service multiplied by the value of the minimum pension.

Family pensions are received by 157,477 recipients, who receive an average of €483, while there are almost 85,000 disability pensions, which average €419. Many of these recipients are still waiting for the payment of a lump sum allowance to ease their living conditions in old age and illness.

The ratio between employees and pensioners shows a positive trend

Old-age pensions average €614, while early retirement pensions do not exceed €570. These average figures also include war veterans’ and military pensions. Pensions under the Veterans Act amount to €1,213, which significantly raises the overall pension statistics, as do the pensions of former members of parliament, which amount to more than €2,000.

Meanwhile, pension expenditure is rising. By December, almost €7.5bn had been spent on pensions, and this cost is expected to reach almost €8.4bn by the end of the year. Pension expenditure includes not only pensions, but also other pension-related payments, such as one-off state benefits.

The ratio between employees and pensioners has also improved. Ten years ago it was 1.15, whereas today it is 1.39 thanks to increased employment. In Istria, there are two employees for every pensioner, while in Sisak-Moslavina County the ratio is one to one.